Get Up and Ride

Today in Washington at the National Bike Summit Kimberly Clark Corporation announced its Get Up and Ride bike initiative - encouraging people to sign up and log in their cycling miles using endomondo. You can sign up beforehand but the miles start counting from May 1 2012 to August 1. Was a great experience to be there in Washington and I met up with some great people (more later) but I was especially proud that it was my dad who announced this challenge today on behalf of Kimberly Clark!!

"We're pleased to be the national sponsor of the Challenge as it supports the wellness of our employees and the communities we serve, while contributing to improved air quality by replacing car travel with clean, healthy bicycle trips," said Jan Spencer, K-C's senior vice president of continuous improvement/procurement/ sustainability. "This year, K-C is providing an extra incentive for our global team members: The Kimberly-Clark Foundation will donate 10 cents to the League of American Bicyclists for every mile logged by a K-C employee during the 2012 Challenge."

And I'd like to add that my dad definitely acts as well as talks - he and my mum completed their own challenge last November when they cycled their very first century together (and yes thats 100 miles not km).

I know they will both be signing up for this challenge - who will join us?

Click here for the full press release or link to it via my facebook page.

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Get Up and Ride

Just coming to the end of my season in the mountains working on the ski slopes! Ready to get back on my bike and really looking forward to it! Tomorrow am attending the National Bike Summit in Washington DC, where among other things Kimberly Clark Corporation will be launching its Get up and Ride National Bike Challenge along with Endomondo (cycling app), the League of American Bicyclist and Bikes Belong. More news about that later!!

National Bike Summit

Paul's 100 Mile Challenge - Colorado, Nov 26 2011

The 100 mile challenge I think is a great idea - though it started off as mum's challenge - so she had most input! However when she picked the date in November I knew it was not going to be a very good time for me - right in the middle of World Cup set up in Beaver Creek (my paying job heading up the dye team!) However it was mum's challenge after all - and she didn't want to leave it too long and lose momentum - she gave herself three months to train!! In the end it worked out OK as I had the day off - I had been wondering how I would fit in 100 miles after a day on the mountain! Only trouble was I had worked every day up till then and my bike had no chain. I had tried to go to the bike shop twice but had been caught out by Thanksgiving closing!

So on the day of the ride my first task was to buy a chain. The first shop I tried at 10am was still closed - but fortunately the second was open and so I was able to buy and fit my chain. I also wanted to buy some overboots for my shoes as I knew it was going to be pretty cold out there - however they didn't have my size so I had to settle for toe caps instead - assured they would work just as well!! It was then pointed out that I had snow tyres on my bike - which as it wasnt really that snowy out might not be a good idea - they would really slow me down! So I headed back to the apartment to change tyres and was finally ready to set off.

I headed off on the bike path and immediately found some snow!! Interesting riding through it with my road tyres! I took it easy to start with - just having fun and enjoying being out on my bike again - and being entertained by Richard's tweets telling me how mum, dad and the Roswell crew were doing!! The bike path became a little confusing and so I had to go on to the road. I realised that I was going mainly downhill and that my idea of riding out 50 miles and then back again might not be such a good one - 50 miles back all uphill? Maybe not!! So I decided to turn around when I got to Eagle. After about 10 miles I stopped to put on more clothes - it was much colder than I had expected - colder than it had been up on the mountain all week!!

32 miles at Eagle and I was feeling pretty good! It was uphill now when I turned so harder work of course! However I miscalculated the distance back to Edwards so by the time I arrived my feet were really freezing - to the point I was worried about frostbite! Anyway this made me ride even quicker to try to warm up! So at 55 miles (10 miles further on that I had intended to stop) I was freezing with an empty water bottle - so I had a huge hot chocolate and some water and started to recover - although it took ages for my feet to warm up! Then I rode another 5 miles back to my apartment to get a load of extra clothes.

Then I was ready to head off uphill through Vail to do the 18 miles out, leaving me the final 18 miles downhill - another good plan, or so I thought. Halfway to Vail and the bike path was closed and so I had to take the Highway - but I noticed a shortcut through a gate back onto the bike path - however I ended up riding through 2 inches of snow (again very interesting) only to reach another gate which was closed! So, back to the Highway! It was getting dark now so I exited the Highway into West Vail once again back on the bike path, covered in snow, headed towards Lionshead. At Lionshead to go any further it meant taking a very icy road which I decided was probably not a very sensible thing to do in the dark - I really didnt want to fall on the ice! So once again I turned round and as I was beginning to get cold again I stopped a couple of miles downhill at McDonald's for another hot chocolate and the chance to warm up again! Ended up sitting here for quite a while to let my feet warm up again.

After this McDonald's stop I had another 25 miles to go - in the dark - but I knew the first 8 at least would be downhill! After that I decided to turn uphill towards Minturn - just a few miles - a lovely little village - it was kind of cool to ride through it in the dark! Then I turned round to go back towards the apartment, realising I still wouldn't have done enough miles. I was thinking of stopping for a while but my toes were now only cold and not frozen and I really needed to get finished! So I carried on past the apartment and did a loop through Avon and back to Eagle Vail and then back down the main road - until I was finally finished!! It had taken 7 hours 15 minutes of riding - which is pretty slow - but then half of it was uphill at altitude and it was extremely cold!! I was pretty tired at the end - wished I had started earlier without all the delays - there were times when snow tyres would have been useful but overall the roads were clear so they would have slowed me down further! The most important thing was that I didnt fall. And it was a great challenge - really was a 100 mile challenge for me - not easy - but a great thing to do!! I am very proud of mum, dad, Julie and John for finishing their first century - a really great effort - and I look forward to the next one! But let's make it in the summer - please!!

25 Hour Race Frog Hollow, Utah

A bit late with this blog - the race was back in October! With hindsight I still wasn't ready for such a challenge, but I wanted to give it a go and was excited about the prospect. I arrived in Utah with Meg as my support in a rental car - looking around most people had far more support - RVs, tents, tool racks, spares etc etc. There was my hint I wasnt as well prepared as I should have been. Maybe I needed a little more gear! Woke up that morning not feeling great - the antibiotics are still making me feel sick - probably the anticipation of the race as well!! Was going to try to use the Hammer Nutrition through the day!

I had never tried a 24 hour race before and was looking forward to it but not sure what to expect. What I definitely hadnt expected was it to be so cold - with 2 inches of snow on the ground that morning! Made me a little worried straight away! But it did feel a little warmer as we arrived at the start and the sun came out. Maybe it wouldnt be so bad!

There was a 100 m dash to the start where I grabbed my bike and hopped on. I had no idea what the trail would be like beforehand! There was a fairly easy 5 mile uphill to start followed by an easy 5 mile downhill - disappointing - not the type of course I was hoping for (I prefer more of a downhill). Then there was about 3 miles of rolling hills with a steep, rocky, more technical section towards the end. The first three laps were good and I rode well - despite not feeling great - stomachwise. At lap 8 however I was in 5th place only 1 lap behind the leaders and was feeling pretty pleased with myself, especially as I was feeling so ill! It was getting dark at this stage so I put my lights on - excellent - really pleased with them. However on the 9th lap on the downhill section my front light went out and I couldnt see properly! My helmet light worked but this wasnt so great - I would turn a corner and see into the bushes rather than the trail head - not good! Then on the steep part of the course my front tyre popped and I fell, bruising my hip. But I fixed the tyre and went to use my CO2 cannister, screwed in the valve only to find the connection wasnt long enough! Never mind - I would use my pump - but no that seized up on me! So I ended up hiking along the trail until I could borrow a pump from a check point guy! At last I was on my way again! Although I pumped it up a little too much in the dark which didnt make for a comfortable ride!

I got back to the car and immediately set off for the next lap hoping to make up some of the lost time! I was not particularly enjoying the course, especially the rocky section at the end. I had been hoping for more of a downhill section - on the last lap I only had to touch my brakes twice on the whole of the downhill - so overall I was a bit upset with the way things were turning out! Not how I had imagined and my stomach was feeling dreadful!! I hadnt eaten properly and was struggling with the cold! My water bottle was frozen by the end of the next lap! I would get too hot on the climb up and too cold on the downhill! When I got back to the car I decided to sleep for a while - but after an hour I woke absolutely freezing - shivering like crazy - so I decided to put the heater on, take off some of my biking gear and sleep a little longer! Well - that was it - although I did eventually warm up I decided not to go back out again!!

I actually completed 12x laps though because we were parked just before the Finish line I forgot to check in on the last one so am recorded as only completing 11!! Never mind! Despite all this I still placed 9th overall - much better than I thought - though I was obviously disappointed in my overall performance! It just wasnt my day! I could have coped with not liking the course but not with being cold and sick!! I will keep taking the antibiotics and hope that when the course is finished (6 months from end of August!!) I can get my stomach sorted out and be back to full power for this sort of race!! I will definitely try another 24 hour race - and be better prepared all round next time!!

100 MILES

Sorry the tweets and facebook updates didnt show on the website!!!! But yes the Roswell crew have had a wonderful day in Georgia and completed the century in approx 8 1/2 hours. Just waiting to hear from Paul that he too has finished in Colorado - where he not only had hills to contend with (ie mountains) but also temperatures of 28 degrees!!! So proud of him and his support as ever, Miriam

Paul's 100 Mile Challenge

First group in Roswell are setting out early tomorrow morning on the Silver Comet Trail. Hopefully we will be able to follow their progress on twitter/facebook. Good luck to mum, dad, Julie, John and Janice - take care out on the trail!